The research proposed here is an examination of the determinants of delayed marriage, using data collected in the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. This data base is a rich and complex source of information following young adults from age 18 to age 25. The research to be conducted will: 1) view marriage as a dynamic process over time, recognizing that the factors delaying marriage at one age may be different from the factors delaying marriage at another age; 2) estimate models of delayed marriage separately according to sex and race/ethnicity, acknowledging that these groups may operate differentially in any marriage market; 3) provide estimates of the effects of a wide range of variables, including those that change over time and those that have not received prior attention in the literature, on delayed marriage; and 4) provide baseline estimates of marital timing to be compared with future results from the 1980 round of the NLS. Linear-logistic regression and odds ratios provide the basic methodological tools to be used in the analysis. Social scientists have documented the consequences marital timing holds for fertility, marital dissolution, household structure, and socioeconomic well-being. This research will identify factors associated with delayed marriage and will prove useful in both academics and policy makers.